Chapter 30 #2
But Miss Omon slips her gloved hand into his and follows him as if lulled by a curse.
I slink through the crowd, keeping a close eye on them.
He speaks to her with guile and charm, and Miss Omon, who has never smiled a day in her life, chats with him as if she’s intrigued by the aura in this place.
My gaze is pinned to her as the song goes on when a familiar whispered voice grabs my attention. Talia.
“Of course that stuff about Rhythe and her isn’t true,” she says to Lira, detached from Jace for a moment.
They’re talking about Ivy. I slip backward into a throng of people to eavesdrop out of sight.
“She’s just saying that,” Talia continues.
She? Me.
“But Ivy’s around now,” Lira says. “Rhythe said he wants her in.”
“Because Ivy’s smart. She never talks because she’s taking mental notes on everyone and everything. She’s good to have in the group.”
Lira taps her foot. “I don’t know.”
“You believe Axira? Come on.”
“What reason does she have to lie?” Lira asks.
“She wants our alliance broken up,” Talia says. “I overheard her and Caelus whispering about it.”
My heart beats so loudly I expect them to hear it.
“Look, if you think Rhythe is playing games with us—” Talia goes on.
“I don’t,” Lira says. “I said I wasn’t sure. Don’t tell him I said that. I never said that!”
“Would you calm down? All I’m saying is if Ivy is a distraction to him, we can get rid of her during the third trial too. He’s so focused on Axira and Dorian, he won’t notice. Add her to the list.”
I back away, stumbling from the shadows, looking for Miss Omon. The walls feel like they’re closing in. Ivy is nothing to me, but now that Talia and Lira are after her, it feels like I should do or say something.
Caelus, where is Caelus?
Miss Omon’s song with Kade is ending, and I march up to her and seize her arm. “She’s had enough, thanks.”
“Axira—” she starts, but I pull her away more forcefully this time, sobered by my eavesdropping. This isn’t a game. Kade will kill to get anyone out of his way. I rue the moment I kissed him and even hinted that I could be interested in matching with him at all.
“He’s not safe,” I whisper to Miss Omon, walking quickly past the granite statues, cutting through the throne room to the doors. I reach for the handle, but a guard steps in my way. “I wanted to show her my room,” I say. “We were told our guests are treated like Skyborn tonight.”
“You have seven minutes,” he says. “I will start walking in that direction in two.”
I pull Miss Omon along as fast as I can down the hall, up the stairs.
She plods to keep up. When we make it to my room, I open the door and close us inside.
Her eyes sweep the space and her breath catches, shallow and sharp.
Her gloved hands hover in front of her, unsure what to do in a place like this.
“It’s so—” Her eyes water, and this time, an actual tear falls down her face. I rush her a tissue, wiping her face, more roughly than I mean to. A tremor passes through her jaw. She walks to the window, looking out at the moonlit sea. Then she stares at me like she’s never seen me before.
I take a deep breath. “Listen—”
“No, you listen to me.” She grabs my bare hand tightly in her gloved grip. “You take this. You take all of it. And you don’t feel bad for any of it. Do you hear me? Your parents would roll over in the sea if they could see how far you’ve risen.”
My brows kiss.
“My parents hated the Skyborn and their rules.” My mother was never brave enough to disobey. My father defied them to honor my mother. It cost him his life.
“Yes. And it is a privilege to have that choice. A privilege they are offering you. A privilege you could have forever.” She shakes my hand.
But Caelus’s words about the magic die on my lips. The more Miss Omon knows, the more she is at risk if questioned.
She steps closer, speaking lower. “Maybe we can make arrangements for Serafina, say that she’s your sister. There is a man who forges papers in Brine End. What if we could get them to let you bring her here and raise her as yours? The others and I will be fine.”
“You want me to stay here?” I ask.
Her chest glows.
“What did they give you?” I say, realizing whatever she’s on is more than one standard-issue Heartfiller. I’ve never seen her like this.
She touches the spot where the Heartfiller disappeared.
“They didn’t say.” She blinks slowly, like she’s trying to pull the words into focus.
“Or maybe they did.” She rubs her temple with the heel of her palm.
“It’s…a little stronger than usual, but I’m okay.
” She offers a weak smile, but her eyes drift to the side, unfocused.
“Just tired. Everything feels thick. Like walking underwater.” She fidgets with her shirt.
“There’s no one tougher than a Saltblood.
You can win, Axira, and never have to smuggle again. ”
I stare at her, my heart thudding, the edges of the world suddenly too sharp. Her voice is too eager, too certain. This woman who taught me how to be unreachable, untouchable, is now pleading with me to settle, to become the very thing she hates.
I pull my hand free from her grip, stunned by how cold the glove feels now.
“No.” My voice cracks, but rises. “I will never be a Skyborn. We are getting out of here. I have a plan. The less you know the better. But I am coming for you soon. We don’t need to trade Saltblood chains for Skyborn ones.
They’re not free here. Can’t you see that? ”
“I see these nice walls, this safe palace, that full table.”
“You’re wrong.” It hurts to see how dulled she is because of the Heartfiller buried in her chest. I’ve watched her live under their haze forever, but now I see them for what they really are—chains, disguised as escape. Giving a veneer of happiness that isn’t actually real.
“You have your father’s ambition. And none of your mother’s discipline. I hope you know what you’re doing. Swim with the current, Axira, or drown.”
A chill skitters down my spine. My mother’s words.
I can still hear the exact tenor of her voice when she said that to me time and time again.
When I would get my foot stuck in rocky clefts along the shore and try to force it out of the hole without turning it this way or that.
When I would jam up the fish storage door, shoving the key in the lock upside down, over and over, convinced it would work with enough force.
Or when my fishing line knotted and I pulled it tighter and tighter until the whole thing became useless.
My mother always said I was fighting the right way of things.
My father would come behind her and say, “Like water carves its own path, Axira finds her own way.” The storage door eventually did open. It also damaged the door. And I cut that knot out of the fishing line, tied two ends together, and it was as good as new.
I know I am right about this too.
“Will you wait for me?” I ask. “I’ll send as much notice as I can to alert you when I’m coming.”
She doesn’t respond right away. “I’ll wait, Axira. I’m scared. But I will wait.”
A rough knock at the door shatters the silence. It’s the guard.
“We wouldn’t want the Benevolent to think you’re not enjoying his generous party,” he says.
Miss Omon strides past me out the door. And the Mercyenforcer keeps in step with her. I walk listlessly behind them, feeling less sure than I did this morning. So much is on the line and yet I don’t know if Caelus is even still a contestant or what he admitted to.
I have to find him. Wherever he is. Now.
I let the distance stretch between us, falling behind.
At the next corridor, I veer off toward the other contestant rooms. That’s when I hear it—a voice, low and sharp, barely above a whisper.
The sound stops me cold. For a split second, I think it might be Caelus.
I edge closer, round the corner, and spot Kade with his mouth pressed to the throat of a raven-haired woman, her dark curls coiled with thin gold threads and her dress bunched up around her waist.
A Skyborn woman.
With a signet ring on her left hand.